This Week in the Universe: Day Late Edition

I apologise once again for my timekeeping (I blame FTL), it’s a wonder I make it into work on a Monday. Fortunately this week I don’t have to so I now have time to write Last Week in the Universe and round up some of the best and most interesting stories from around the web you may have missed last week.

The big “news” this week, quotes because it wasn’t exactly anything unexpected or new, was Apple announcing their latest iPhone. In my opinion (an it is only an opinion) if this is the most innovative product Apple can come up with these days it is no wonder they seem to want to sue everyone else into submission. Someone else who seems to share my viewpoint is Dan Lyons.

“More important, is this really the best we can expect from an outfit that claims to be the most innovative company in the world? This is the sixth version of the iPhone, and the user interface still looks almost exactly like the original iPhone in 2007.”

The Guardian ask why you would buy an iPhone 5, the reason? Because you have to to access all the content you bought for your iPhone 4.

“A few days after I left my job as the technology correspondent for Channel 4 News, I spent time advising a major mobile phone manufacturer. The collection of marketing executives I sat with all wanted the answer to a single question: why was their new phone not getting the same level of media coverage as the launch of an iPhone?”

The beta for Steam’s Big Picture mode, a modified user interface to better work on a controller and your TV, was made available last week. I have not tried it out yet but plan to later on this week. Rock, Paper, Shotgun however have already had a look.

“It’s here! It’s finally here! After ages of waiting, I thought all hope was lost. I figured we’d have to keep viewing Steam on the humblest of screens: magnifying-glass-worthy monitors, puny laptops, screen doors. But now – after having its arrival heralded by semi-obscure videogame publication The New York Times – Big Picture’s open to everyone.”

This next article stuck out to me because I too played Sonic back in the 90s and as a result missed out on the classics that Nintendo had to offer. I have been playing the remake on my 3DS and I can see why people consider Ocarina of Time to be the best Zelda game, if not one of the best games ever.

“Antique Code Show I didn’t play The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time when it was first released in the late 1990s because I was too busy on my SEGA playing Sonic. However, I do remember that I always used to think the name Zelda referred to the main character. It wasn’t until I watched The Legend of Neil that I realised the hero’s name was Link and Zelda was the name of the cutesy pie peroxide princess.”

What do you do with a £20 computer? Buy 64 of them and build a supercomputer of course.

“As soon as we were able to source sufficient Raspberry Pi computers we wanted to see if it was possible to link them together into a supercomputer. We installed and built all of the necessary software on the Pi starting from a standard Debian Wheezy system image and we have published a guide so you can build your own supercomputer.”

It is hard to believe this if you are someone who has done an electrical engineering degree, but apparently not everyone knows who Nicola Tesla was. The BBC sought to correct this issue.

“He’s less famous than Einstein. He’s less famous than Leonardo. He’s arguably less famous than Stephen Hawking. Most gallingly for his fans, he’s considerably less famous than his arch-rival Thomas Edison. But his work helped deliver the power for the device on which you are reading this. His invention of the induction motor that would work with alternating current (AC) was a milestone in modern electrical systems.”

I believe the biggest reason for online piracy is the difficulty of getting the content legally. I have a LOVEFiLM Instant subscription, one that allows me to watch all the films and TV Shows they have available to stream but does not get me any physical rentals, I’m fine with this except for one thing. Pick a film, any film and find it on the site. Chances are it will be one of the huge number of films where the distribute insists that is in only available as a traditional rental. Of the big studios Warner is the only one who seem to want their movies up there. Quality is also an issue of course, but that is a moot point if the content isn’t there. The industry is slowly starting to take note however…

“The entertainment group has been experimenting with new modes of film and content distribution and watching international moves.In 2009 it acquired DVD vending machine outfit Oovie which will now be re-branded Hoyts Kiosk and integrated into the video streaming service offering downloads in addition to physical product. The kiosk business boasts around 730,000 customers since launch and currently maintains 200,000 active customers.”

Video this week is the latest from Boston Dynamics, and very terrifying it is too.